What's happening in Louisiana's historic town of St. Francisville; where time slows just enough to enjoy the simple pleasures and unique treasures. Essays, blurbs, observations and photos from a small southern town with charm, history and friendship.

Friday, March 30, 2012

MUSTARD GREEN QUEEN’S MEALS MARK THE MILESTONES OF LIFE IN ST. FRANCISVILLE, LA
By Anne Butler
Photos by Henry Cancienne

Every little town has one, that dependably generous soul who never says no and thus may be found laboring behind the scenes over a hot stove or flaming grill at every fundraiser, every church dinner, every charitable event. St. Francisville has over the years been fortunate enough to have had a number of these unsung heroes, and one of them is finally getting her due.

For nearly half a century, St. Francisvillians have marked the milestones of life---the summer vacation Bible schools and high school graduations, the engagements and weddings, the baby showers and births, the illnesses and finally the inevitable deaths---over Sue Powell’s delectable dishes. The fundraisers and church socials, the pilgrimage luncheons and potluck suppers, the celebrations of life and the mourning of passings could hardly be observed without Miss Sue’s cakes or casseroles to enhance the joy and ease the pain. Somehow the whole world looked a little better over a heaping bowl of Miss Sue’s famous gumbo or her incredible Italian cream cake, her roast with rice and gravy or her homemade jellies or her lemon icebox pie.

The effervescent Sue Powell spent years working in the guidance counselors’ office at the local high school. Longtime counselor Ms. Dianne Williams recalls that Miss Sue knew all the students and parents, and she treated each one with love and respect. “She was the life of the party,” said Ms. Williams, “and she could help a child, work with office materials and talk on the phone all at the same time. She loved to cook and coordinate school social activities. She had more recipes than anyone I knew and she’s one of the best cooks I’ve ever seen. The faculty loved her and she loved them. She brought laughter, compassion and a genuine sense of love to West Feliciana High School. Mrs. Sue was ‘Mama’ to all of us. A thousand words are not enough to describe one of the most humble and friendliest human beings I’ve ever know.”

If the bounties of her kitchen spread a little cheer, that was enough for Sue Powell; she never asked for more, never coveted recognition. But when a new festival came to town, another one of those homegrown frolics celebrating the things St. Francisville is famous for, like its birds or its historic plantations and gardens or its local artists, and when there was a contest to see who was the best mustard green cook of them all, well, Miss Sue could hardly be expected to pass up the challenge. After all, she was an old Mississippi country girl who’d spent her entire married life in St. Francisville, where cold-resistant hardy mustard greens graced many a dinner table throughout the winter months, usually accompanied by a baked sweet potato and pone of iron-skillet cornbread to soak up that good ol’ pot likker.

Miss Sue knew you didn’t need any fancy recipe to cook mustard greens to perfection, just a slab of salt pork and a long, slow simmer. “Put ‘em on and let ‘em go; you gotta cook ‘em for a long time,” as her daughter Tootie describes her mama’s secret method. There was plenty of competition, including a couple of upstart wannabees like the regional magazine publisher and one local realtor decked out in real greens, plus some stiff judging by the likes of C.C. Lockwood and Smiley Anders, but not only did Miss Sue win the World Champion Mustard Green Cooking Contest, she was also crowned Mustard Green Queen for having raised the most contributions for the local food bank, over $1000. The only male contestant (in the cooking contest, not the queen’s) was gracious enough to retire from the field. And so, resplendent in denim overalls and a sparkling tiara, Sue Powell, with a mischievous twinkle in her eye and looking far younger than her 75 years, reigned supreme over the first official Feliciana Green Festival sponsored by the local Rotary Club.

At last one of St. Francisville’s unsung heroes finally got her due. While Sue Powell loves to travel and has been all over the world, from Saudi Arabia to Hong Kong, from Hawaii to Belgium, her happiest moments are when she is stirring that pot and cooking something soothing to the soul for her friends and neighbors in St. Francisville, Louisiana. Of course she knows everybody in town; on her last birthday Miss Sue received a grand total of 207 cards! Daughter Tootie says, “Anytime anybody wants anything cooked, she can’t say no.” What a blessing she is to the community, she and all the others like her in every little community, whose culinary contributions mark the milestones of life and make the living and dying more bearable.

St. Francisville is a year-round tourist destination featuring a number of splendidly restored plantation homes open for tours daily: The Cottage Plantation, Butler Greenwood Plantation, The Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation. Afton Villa Gardens is open seasonally; Imahara’s Botanical Garden offers spring tours weekends March through May. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, offering periodic fascinating living-history demonstrations so visitors can experience 19th-century plantation life and customs.

The nearby Tunica Hills offer unmatched recreational activities in unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking, birding, photography. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some fine little restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from Chinese and Mexican cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups. And those looking for mustard greens and other fresh produce can visit the local Farmers’ Market Thursday and Saturdays.

For visitor information, call St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873 or West Feliciana Tourist Commission at 225-635-4224; online visit www.stfrancisville.us (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities) or www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com.

Thursday, March 08, 2012

APPROACH TO NEW AUDUBON BRIDGE BETWEEN ST. FRANCISVILLE AND NEW ROADS SALUTES TWO GENERALS
by Anne Butler

John J. Auduburn Bridge

The historic little towns of St. Francisville and New Roads have been separated over the years by many factors: cultural and linguistic differences, landscape and crop differences, and even by the mighty Mississippi River. New Roads was French, flat, sugarcane fields. St. Francisville was traditionally Anglo, hilly, with cotton the main cash crop of the 19th century.
And yet, over the years, the two communities have been inextricably bound together as well, beginning in the late 1800s when Capuchin monks from flood-prone Catholic Pointe Coupee had to cross the river to the high bluffs of St. Francisville to bury their dead. Now a beautiful new bridge, the country’s longest cable-stayed structure, connects the two communities across the waters of the Mississippi, and the bridge approach avenues have been named in commemoration of something else the two towns have in common---native sons who valiantly served their country in the wars of different generations and rose to the highest rank of their chosen branch of service as Commandants of the US Marine Corps.
The west approach to the bridge has been named by the state Department of Transportation and Development the General John A. LeJeune Memorial Approach. Born in 1867 in Pointe Coupee, LeJeune graduated from LSU and the US Naval Academy. During the Spanish-American War he commanded the Marine Guard on the USS Cincinnati and USS Massachusetts. As he rose through the ranks, he served all over the world, from Norfolk to Panama, from Washington DC to the Philippines, from Guantanamo Bay to Vera Cruz in Mexico.

General John A. LeJeune

By the outbreak of World War I, LeJeune was a brigadier general, in command of Marine divisions overseas. He would be the first Marine officer to hold an army divisional command when he led the famous Second Division (Army); after the armistice, he led his division in the march into Germany. In 1919 he was appointed commanding general of the Marine barracks in Quantico, Virginia, and became the 13th Commandant of the Marine Corps in 1920. After two terms he retired to serve as superintendent of Virginia Military Institute. General LeJeune, an active-duty Marine for more than forty years, was called “the greatest of all Leathernecks,” and when he died in 1942, he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He was the recipient of many military honors recognizing his distinguished service to his country, and Camp LeJeune in North Carolina bears his name.
The bridge approach on the St. Francisville (east) side of the river salutes native son General Robert Hilliard Barrow, 27th Commandant of the Marine Corps, who served in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. When General Barrow died at age 86 in 2008, the New York Times said he “combined Southern courtliness, fierce devotion to Marine tradition and courage reflected in dozens of wars.” During the course of his military career, he received the Navy Cross for service in Korea and the Army Distinguished Service Cross in Vietnam, both second only to the Medal of Honor.
Born in 1922, Barrow was raised on his family plantation, historic Rosale, in West Feliciana Parish, and attended LSU, enlisting in the Marine Corps in March 1942. After attending OCS and being commissioned a second lieutenant in 1943, he was deployed to China and led an American team fighting with Chinese guerrillas operating extensively in enemy-occupied territory behind Japanese lines. As a rifle company commander in the Korean War he was called the most outstanding company commander of the war, and during Vietnam he commanded the Ninth Marine Regiment, Third Marine Division, again being recognized as the war’s finest regimental commander.

General Robert H. Barrow

After seven tours of duty in the Far East, in 1979 General Barrow became Commandant of the Marine Corps, and he was instrumental in implementing much-needed reforms in recruiting and training. He also expanded the Marine role in the military’s new rapid response strategy. When he retired from the service in 1983, Barrow returned to his beloved home near St. Francisville, and when he died, he opted for burial not in Arlington National Cemetery but in the peaceful oak-shaded cemetery surrounding historic Grace Episcopal Church, which his family had attended for some five generations.
And today as the new Audubon Bridge links the two historic communities on either side of the Mississippi River, so the bridge approach avenues mark yet another commonality between the two towns in recognizing the tradition of distinguished military service in the careers of two native sons, one from the east side of the river and one from the west, who rose to the same high rank and post in serving their country across the generations.
Having taken the place of a longtime ferry that was becoming increasingly unreliable, the bridge expedites traffic flow across the river and provides faster access to popular special events like the Angola Prison Rodeo, an annual event that always draws big crowds of visitors to the St. Francisville area in April; this year’s spring edition is April 21 and 22nd. From the time the mounted black-clad Angola Rough Riders race at break-neck speed into the arena, flags streaming and hooves flying, visitors are on the edges of their seats through events pitting inmates against pro-stock Brahma bulls and wild-eyed bucking broncos. Ladies’ barrel racing is the only non-inmate event in what is called the longest running prison rodeo, begin in the 1960s.

On top of Audubon Bridge

Crowd favorites are the events unique to Angola, including the crowd-pleasing "Guts and Glory", an arena full of inmates on foot trying to remove a $100 chit tied between the horns of the meanest Brahma bull around. Rodeo events begin at 2 p.m., but the grounds open at 9 a.m. for a huge arts and crafts sale showcasing inmate talent in hobbycraft like jewelry, hand-tooled leather, paintings and woodwork both large and small. Inmate bands perform throughout the day, and a large number of concession stands offer a variety of food and drink, with the stands providing shaded seating for more than 10,000 cheering spectators. Tickets should be purchased in advance (online at www.angolarodeo.com).
Visitors should allow time to tour the fascinating prison museum just outside the front entrance gates to learn more about the history of this enormous maximum-security penitentiary. It should be noted that there are specific regulations with which visitors must comply when entering prison grounds; no food, drink, cell phones or cameras are allowed through the rodeo entrance gate, and on prison property no weapons, ammunition, alcohol or drugs are permitted; purses and bags will be searched and all vehicles must be locked when unoccupied.
St. Francisville is a year-round tourist destination featuring a number of splendidly restored plantation homes open for tours daily: The Cottage Plantation, Butler Greenwood Plantation, The Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation. Afton Villa Gardens is open seasonally; Imahara’s Botanical Garden offers spring tours weekends March through May. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, offering periodic fascinating living-history demonstrations so visitors can experience 19th-century plantation life and customs.

Audubon Bridge Tower

The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking, birding, photography. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some fine little restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from Chinese and Mexican cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.
For visitor information, call St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873 or West Feliciana Tourist Commission at 225-635-4224; online visit www.stfrancisville.us (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities) or www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com.

Spring blooms beckon Audubon pilgrims to St. Francisville, LAby Anne Butler
The forty-first annual Audubon Pilgrimage March 16, 17 and 18, 2012, celebrates a southern spring in St. Francisville, the glorious garden spot of Louisiana’s English Plantation Country. For over four decades the sponsoring West Feliciana Historical Society has thrown open the doors of significant historic structures to commemorate artist-naturalist John James Audubon’s stay as he painted a number of his famous bird folios, and 2012, being the 200th anniversary of Louisiana statehood, promises to be a spectacular tour.

Features of the 2012 Audubon Pilgrimage include two historic townhouses, Hillcroft and Prospect, and in the surrounding countryside two early 19th-century plantations: Highland and Woodland, plus Afton Villa Gardens and Rosedown and Audubon State Historic Sites, three 19th-century churches and the Rural Homestead with lively demonstrations of the rustic skills of daily pioneer life. The fascinating Smithsonian Institution exhibit Journey Stories, examining who we are and how we got here, fills the Historical Society museum, and two other historic buildings downtown hold the popular antiques show and sale. Tour hostesses are clad in the exquisitely detailed costumes of the 1820’s, nationally recognized for their authenticity.

On Pilgrimage weekend, St. Francisville’s National Register-listed historic district around Royal Street is filled during the day with the happy sounds of costumed children singing and dancing the Maypole; in the evening as candles flicker and fireflies flit among the ancient moss-draped live oaks, there is no place more inviting for a leisurely stroll. Friday evening features old-time Hymn Singing at the United Methodist Church, Graveyard Tours at Grace Episcopal cemetery, and a wine and cheese reception featuring a style show of glorious period costumes at Bishop Jackson Hall. Light Up The Night Saturday evening features live music and dancing, dinner and drinks. For tickets and tour information, contact West Feliciana Historical Society, Box 338, St. Francisville, LA 70775; phone 225-635-6330 or 225-635-4224; online www.audubonpilgrimage.info, email sf@audubonpilgrimage.info.

Throughout springtime, the gardens of St. Francisville are spectacular, with some of the state’s finest antebellum plantings showcasing what a felicitous climate, rich soil, horticultural know-how and unlimited labor could produce in the mid-1900s. Rosedown Plantation house is surrounded by 27 acres of formal plantings featuring a number of heirloom varieties, and it is open daily throughout the year. Afton Villa gardens are open seasonally, with landscaped terraces and parterres brightened by the blooms of thousands of flowering bulbs and the famed Pride of Afton azaleas along the oak alley. A third garden, Imahara’s Botanical, this year takes its place among the premier garden spots of the south, with extensive hillside plantings of azaleas, camellias, crape myrtles, hollies and magnolias, palms, oaks and fruit trees interspersed among reflecting pools and an old cypress swamp, plus a conference center with fascinating displays of Haiku carvings, a new Japanese garden and even Mount Fuji replicated among Feliciana’s hills; tours offered Saturday (10 a.m., 1 and 3 p.m.) and Sunday (1 and 3 p.m.) in March, April and May, plus larger group tours by advance registration (call 225-635-2001).

March 31, the 2012 St. Francisville Spring Garden Stroll, presented by Feliciana Master Gardeners, provides access to unique private and public gardens both in town and in the surrounding countryside, with proceeds going to 4-H scholarships and local school gardens (call 225-635-3614 for information, or email abrock@agcenter.lsu.edu). Also on March 31 and April 1, Arts for All, the organization that fosters appreciation for the arts in West Feliciana Parish, sponsors a community art show at historic Audubon Market Hall on Royal Street in St. Francisville; says Arts for All president Becky Landry, the show continues a time-honored tradition of support for the arts and artists begun in the early 1800s when John James Audubon found the area’s landscapes and birdlife so creatively inspiring.

St. Francisville is a year-round tourist destination featuring a number of splendidly restored plantation homes open for tours daily: The Cottage Plantation, Butler Greenwood Plantation, The Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation and Afton Villa Gardens seasonally. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, offering periodic fascinating living-history demonstrations so visitors can experience 19th-century plantation life and customs.
The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking, birding, photography. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some fine little restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from Chinese and Mexican cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups. Through mid-March the newly redesigned West Feliciana Historical Society Museum hosts the free Smithsonian exhibit Journey Stories, with a number of related activities and events.
For visitor information, call St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873 or West Feliciana Tourist Commission at 225-635-4224; online visit www.stfrancisville.us (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities) or www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com.